HN user
Benedict's comment on this thread:
I love how conservative and backwards-looking Hacker News can be. PCs rule! Phones are toys!
Source: https://twitter.com/BenedictEvans/status/626173995566497792
Mike Arrington claims he was fired: "So @dickc was fired. My guess is @sacca knew about it before writing his recent open letters."
I chuckled when I read:
First, the small window by default encourages short emails which is always good.
"Sorry mom, I intended to write you a longer message but gmail encourages me to keep it short."
Putting them behind one extra click is really not the huge usability nightmare people make out.
Folks at Microsoft are nodding their heads and furiously tweeting this sentence.
Agreed. It also is not showing the email address making it easy to mistakenly send a personal email to someone's work account and vice versa.
For my usage, the new compose has been a major step back. It now takes additional clicks to accomplish basic tasks (e.g. change the subject) and is less clear on what I am doing (e.g. when you cc someone and switch back to the body, the cc-ed names is now in To: line making it appear that you are sending it to them directly.) There are many other examples where the experience has become worse.
I am not clear if Google truly believes the new compose is an improvement or if there is a behind the scenes reason that is making up for the decrease in usability. The new product is so obviously a step back (to me) that I am assuming it's the latter. Has anyone seen a write up that has an explanation other than "improved practicality?"
I-banker here. I deal with similar situations on fairly regular basis.
Couple of tips:
- NDA is useless. Sign it but don't expect them to adhere to it. Even if they don't, it's extremely difficult to prove a breach (they likely won't be disclosing it to others anyway, just using it against you).
- Ask them how they plan to price your assets - is it based on your financials, your technology, your customers, etc. This may disqualify them right away: e.g. they tell you is that they only look for revenue growth while you think your technology is the most important part of the company.
- Have them give you a formal presentation on their company and where they see your firm fitting in. This really serves 3 purposes: a) allows you to see how they are approaching the market and whether they've thought this through or if it's a fly-by. If this is a random "let's see if we can buy this cheap" situation, they'll likely be reluctant to spend quality time with you; b) you will learn what their pain points are, which will give you leverage later, if the acquisition progresses; c) probably most important, you will spend time together and will start to get a sense on whether you can trust them. Establishing a beginning of a professional relationship goes a long way for you (e.g. sometimes you just know if the other person is a charlatan or if they are a straight shooter) and for them (they start developing a level of trust and are not as suspicious you'll trick THEM)
- after the initial meeting, share your concerns and ask them for suggestions on what they would do if they were in your shoes
There's more, feel free to reach out to me directly if you'd like.